ONLINE DOCUMENTS

The latest scoldings are from county officials and a local attorney — the same one who sued Barwin this spring when he brought people together to discuss homelessness in violation of state open meetings laws.

This go-around involves Barwin's suggestion that Sarasota County pay to expand the use of a system that would allow social service providers and law enforcement to work more closely in helping the homeless. That system includes private information like a client's mental health history.

In an email to city and county leaders last week, Barwin noted that Broward County allocated nearly $400,000 toward such a system, which he said will hopefully be available to case managers working with police. He urged Sarasota County to take the same steps, saying there seems to be a “giant gap” here.

“Basic coordination between all local/county agencies involved with this challenge, and better understanding the problem may need some investment up front by the county, but can save millions over the current approach,” Barwin wrote. “In Florida county government is legally responsible and funded to attend to physical and mental health priorities, and the street — homeless should be considered an urgent and important priority health issue.”

His message was met with a harsh reproach from Sarasota County Commissioner Christine Robinson, who said Barwin failed to acknowledge the $4.8 million the county dedicated to health and human services last year. In an email Robinson questioned whether Barwin was more interested in the appearance of taking action to address homeless rather than actually doing something to tackle the problem.

“These knee-jerk, uninformed reactions are not helping the problem but further complicating it,” she stated. “As we work with the City of Sarasota, I encourage you to make sure that we are doing due diligence on solutions as we explore them. I am less concerned with appearances and more concerned with solutions that are effective for our community on this county-wide issue.”

Funding face-off

Since Barwin took over as city manager in September, he has been struggling to figure out how to handle the city's large and visible homeless population.

A few months ago, Barwin asked elected officials to help fund caseworkers on the street. His presentation received a cold response from some county and city commissioners.

Robinson said this week that the county is always willing to work with the city on homelessness, but Sarasota needs to understand the investments the county already makes, like funding addiction recovery, food distribution and supporting the Salvation Army.

“Mr. Barwin seems to propose items without fully discovering what the county does in terms of the homeless,” Robinson said.

Tracy also compared Sarasota County to five other Florida counties with similar populations. Last year, Sarasota County spent almost $500,000 on basic needs like rent, mortgage, utilities and homeless prevention, she wrote, more than the other five counties combined.

Barwin said he does not want an adversarial relationship with the county, but is striving to take the way the area handles homelessness “to the next level.” He wants to prevent the people with mental health and addiction issues from repeatedly landing in jail and the hospital.

“The county, the region, is doing an admirable job dealing with it appears to be, you know, 80 percent of this issue,” Barwin said. “But this tough 20 percent of this issue is not being managed or handled adequately and it is costing the taxpayers literally millions a year.”

Searching for solutions

Barwin is calling for more coordination between law enforcement and social service providers who work with the homeless, including allowing police access to a Homeless Management Database System that contains health information.

The city manager says his plan to share the information system database could help address the revolving door of homeless people flooding emergency rooms and jail.

But attorney Andrea Mogensen sent a letter Tuesday to the director of the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness — the agency that secures funding for the information system — and to city leaders, warning them against such a move.

The letter stated that unless certain conditions are met, like a court order, the information cannot be shared with police.

“Frankly, it shocks my conscience that you would even entertain sharing the confidential database with an agency that has a record of criminalizing homelessness and targeting them for prosecution,” Mogensen wrote.

Michael Barfield, a paralegal who works with Mogensen, said they sent the letter to get their objections on the record and because they don't want another “Oops” from the city manager — referring to the open government lawsuit Mogensen filed against Barwin in the spring.

Barwin said the recent legal warning from the attorney makes an “Olympic leap,” and there are no immediate plans to share information.

“I think we got to work through who's authorized to know what,” he said, adding that there may be certain conditions where sharing protected information is allowed that could apply here.

Barwin repeated a statistic he often mentions, that in almost a quarter of Sarasota arrests last year the person said they did not have a home.

Service providers in the area work in silos — they do not share their information, he said, and the result is homeless people with mental health issues are repeatedly ending up in jail.

“If this isn't the solution then what is the solution?” he asked. “There has to be one.”

<p><em>SARASOTA</em> - Every step City Manager Tom Barwin takes to handle the very visible homelessness problem seems to land him a slap on the wrist. </p><p>The latest scoldings are from county officials and a local attorney — the same one who sued Barwin this spring when he brought people together to discuss homelessness in violation of state open meetings laws.</p><p>This go-around involves Barwin's suggestion that Sarasota County pay to expand the use of a system that would allow social service providers and law enforcement to work more closely in helping the homeless. That system includes private information like a client's mental health history.</p><p><A HREF="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/700222-homelessness-email-exchange.html#document/p2/a102792" target="_blank">In an email to city and county leaders</a> last week, Barwin noted that Broward County allocated nearly $400,000 toward such a system, which he said will hopefully be available to case managers working with police. He urged Sarasota County to take the same steps, saying there seems to be a “giant gap” here. </p><p>“Basic coordination between all local/county agencies involved with this challenge, and better understanding the problem may need some investment up front by the county, but can save millions over the current approach,” Barwin wrote. “In Florida county government is legally responsible and funded to attend to physical and mental health priorities, and the street — homeless should be considered an urgent and important priority health issue.” </p><p>His message was met with a harsh reproach from Sarasota County Commissioner Christine Robinson, who said Barwin failed to acknowledge the $4.8 million the county dedicated to health and human services last year. <A HREF="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/700222-homelessness-email-exchange.html#document/p1/a102673" target="_blank">In an email</a> Robinson questioned whether Barwin was more interested in the appearance of taking action to address homeless rather than actually doing something to tackle the problem.</p><p>“These knee-jerk, uninformed reactions are not helping the problem but further complicating it,” she stated. “As we work with the City of Sarasota, I encourage you to make sure that we are doing due diligence on solutions as we explore them. I am less concerned with appearances and more concerned with solutions that are effective for our community on this county-wide issue.”</p><p><b>Funding face-off</b></p><p>Since Barwin took over as city manager in September, he has been struggling to figure out how to handle the city's large and visible homeless population. </p><p>A few months ago, Barwin asked elected officials to help fund caseworkers on the street. His presentation received a cold response from some county and city commissioners.</p><p>Robinson said this week that the county is always willing to work with the city on homelessness, but Sarasota needs to understand the investments the county already makes, like funding addiction recovery, food distribution and supporting the Salvation Army.</p><p>“Mr. Barwin seems to propose items without fully discovering what the county does in terms of the homeless,” Robinson said. </p><p>After Barwin's email last week, <A HREF="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/700222-homelessness-email-exchange.html#document/p2/a102790" target="_blank">Assistant County Administrator Lee Ann Lowery replied</a> by citing <A HREF="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/700222-homelessness-email-exchange.html#document/p3/a102794" target="_blank">an email from Human Services Manager Pauline Tracy</a>, who said statewide, Sarasota County was second only to Palm Beach County in their health department funding — it spent $3.3 million compared to Palm Beach's $3.4 million. </p><p>Tracy also compared Sarasota County to five other Florida counties with similar populations. Last year, Sarasota County spent almost $500,000 on basic needs like rent, mortgage, utilities and homeless prevention, she wrote, more than the other five counties combined. </p><p>Barwin said he does not want an adversarial relationship with the county, but is striving to take the way the area handles homelessness “to the next level.” He wants to prevent the people with mental health and addiction issues from repeatedly landing in jail and the hospital.</p><p>“The county, the region, is doing an admirable job dealing with it appears to be, you know, 80 percent of this issue,” Barwin said. “But this tough 20 percent of this issue is not being managed or handled adequately and it is costing the taxpayers literally millions a year.”</p><p><b>Searching for solutions</b> </p><p>Barwin is calling for more coordination between law enforcement and social service providers who work with the homeless, including allowing police access to a Homeless Management Database System that contains health information. </p><p>The city manager says his plan to share the information system database could help address the revolving door of homeless people flooding emergency rooms and jail.</p><p>But <A HREF="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/700554-letter-to-loveless.html" targat="_blank">attorney Andrea Mogensen sent a letter</a> Tuesday to the director of the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness — the agency that secures funding for the information system — and to city leaders, warning them against such a move. </p><p>The letter stated that unless certain conditions are met, like a court order, the information cannot be shared with police.</p><p>“Frankly, it shocks my conscience that you would even entertain sharing the confidential database with an agency that has a record of criminalizing homelessness and targeting them for prosecution,” Mogensen wrote. </p><p>Michael Barfield, a paralegal who works with Mogensen, said they sent the letter to get their objections on the record and because they don't want another “Oops” from the city manager — referring to the open government lawsuit Mogensen filed against Barwin in the spring.</p><p>Barwin said the recent legal warning from the attorney makes an “Olympic leap,” and there are no immediate plans to share information.</p><p>“I think we got to work through who's authorized to know what,” he said, adding that there may be certain conditions where sharing protected information is allowed that could apply here.</p><p>Barwin repeated a statistic he often mentions, that in almost a quarter of Sarasota arrests last year the person said they did not have a home. </p><p>Service providers in the area work in silos — they do not share their information, he said, and the result is homeless people with mental health issues are repeatedly ending up in jail.</p><p>“If this isn't the solution then what is the solution?” he asked. “There has to be one.”</p>